Plantain: Your Best Friend for Bumps and Boo-Boos
I’ve been paying more attention to Plantain. Why? Because Plantain is abundant and free.
This year my focus is on Bioregional Herbalism. By definition, Bioregional Herbalism is practiced by sourcing herbs and plants for health from the local ecosystem. Sounds simple. New tag line: if it’s abundant and free then it for me.
What a perfect time to hone in on whole plant medicine growing around me. One of the most abundant and free medicines growing under my feet is Plantain. There are two botanical varieties of plantain, broad leaf and narrow leaf. They can be used interchangeably, so don’t be concerned if your plantain looks a little bit differently than mine.
Plain Plantain. It is actually so abundant and seemingly simple, I overlooked it in the past. Well not anymore. I sat on the Earth, crossed legs, comfortable with my kiddos by my side. It felt good to get down on their level and relax into the harvest. No rushing. What a different perspective these small children have, being so close to the size of the plants and the places they grow. Our picnic with Plantain, a joy to just sit-face to face-eye to eye-the babes, the plants, the sun the soil, and the cool breeze. No where to go and nothing pressing to do-just gathering Plain ol Plantain leaves one by one and feeling grateful for every detail of the process, because being present while working with plants is important. We give them all of our attention.
Our Plantain Extract can be used for its vulnerary actions, meaning it assists the body in healing wounds. Plantain grows from a center and leaves are drawn up from that space. The bottom of the leaf is often purple or magenta in color, resembling the color of blood. Using the Doctrine of Signatures, this gives me two clues: plaintain has the power to draw up and out infection, dirt or puss from deep wounds and it has a cleansing action on the blood. I use our plantain extract topically on wounds, specific to deep wounds or wounds with debris in them like dirt, gravel and infections causing yellow and green pus. While I’ve got the Plantain Extract out, I’ll take a dropper full internally. Taken internally, it will fight infection and cleanse the blood.
Our Plantain Extract has a healing effect on the respiratory system as well, improving conditions like bronchial infection, strep bacteria causing sore throat, and it acts as an expectorant to draw up mucus from the lungs.
I’ve read that people have used plantain extract to address skin disorders like impetigo and eczema. Wow. There is some good news for those of us watching our children suffer from mysterious skin disorders. Skin eruptions of this nature are generally treated with antibiotics and/or steroid creams.
I consider our Plantain Extract to be essential in my family’s first aid kit. Plantain has the power to address the every day ailments found in my household: rashes, wounds, bruises, respiratory and bronchial infections and skin disorders.
So yeah, I’ve been paying more attention to my quiet friend plantain. Maybe you will too.
